The Land of Dragons
by Ebony Nightinggale
Summary: The Land of Dragons, the Village of Outcasts, has sat on the sidelines since the begining of the modern ninja world. But times are changing and the destroyed and rebuilt village can no longer afford to sit in the shadows and wait. But who are an untrusting bunch of outcasts to trust?


**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do however own my OCs and made up jutsu, so no stealing.**

_**Preface**_

_Wind: That which breathes life into all, yet causes thrashing storms that level cities._

_Lightning: That which sparks life, yet destroys all it touches._

_Earth: That on which all life stands, yet can crumple beneath it._

_Water: That which sustains all life, yet can submerge whole islands beneath its waves._

_Fire: That which ignites and burns all, yet without its heat, the others would cease to be._

The girl called Firebird stood on a high branch overlooking a city of interconnected tree houses. Or, at least, what used to be. Now it was a once thriving desolate wasteland in the middle of a lush forest. Bridges and walkways that once spanned the gaps had been demolished. Ropes and boards that once connected them hung limply from one side or the other. The buildings were scorched and burned, walls and roofs in pieces or missing all together. Frayed ropes from bridge and pulley systems dangled from the upper level to the lower one, swaying in the light breeze. The trees themselves had not been spared. Large branches and sections of foliage had been burned away. It could be seen where the burning branches had fallen through buildings and decks. It was a miracle the battle hadn't sparked a full fledged forest fire.

Blood stained the decks and walkways.

The place seemed suspended in time. A haunting reminder of something that someone wanted to forget.

Time _had_ taken its toll. Leaves budded from charred branches. The trees grew, cracking structures build around them with no one there to adjust them. Plants from window and garden boxes overgrew their containers and began to climb walls and crawl across floors. Only the medical center was free of plant growth. All medicinal plants had been painstakingly relocated. One day the forest would completely reclaim that place but the ghosts would linger until those who had once lived there died.

The girl called Firebird was like a wraith herself. She stood perfectly still; her arms folded across her chest. The wind blew ink dark hair across her face and tugged at the frayed, jagged edges of her multi-hued, flame colored cape. Blood red eyes looked out from the black wisps of hair that blew across them. The colors of fire and blood were the only colors on her person, all else was black or white.

She watched the ropes and a few stray vines sway in wind. Without seeming to move, she leapt from the branch and landed lightly on one foot on one of the walkways beneath her. She carried the momentum into a step and kept walking at a quick but calm pace. Firebird continued through the ruined village, jumping where destroyed bridges blocked her path, until she came to the opposite edge. From there, she leapt through the trees as easily as taking a Sunday stroll until stopping suddenly.

Before her the forest ended. Charred and blackened earth radiated for one hundred yards around a lone rock that stood twelve feet high. Firebird jumped from the tree, did hand-spring off the ground, turned over in the air and landed lightly on top of the rock with practiced ease. Her flight startled eight ravens out of the surrounding trees.

Sitting down on the rock, Firebird leaned back on her hands and followed the ravens' accent into the sky. It was still hard to believe that this charred black stone monolith was all that remained of the ever burning Fire's Rock; a place that had once been filled with burning chakra and held sacred by her home. A home that was still slowly becoming more than a pile of ashes; an untrusting pile of ashes. It was hard to believe that the Land of Dragons was a pile of ashes. It was hard to believe that the Land of Dragons is synonymous with the Village of Outcasts. It was hard to believe—

Firebird sighed and tipped her head back. She was starting to believe she was still in shock. So long ago yet the wounds refused to even scar and still bled.

"You know, Firebird, sitting here and brooding on the past—"

"Doesn't help the present or the future." Firebird rolled her eyes. "Luna, if you're just going to give me the same lecture you give Kyene, you might as well leave. I know it by heart."

The girl called Luna leaned back against the Rock with her fingers laced behind her neck. "Well you need to get the message too. Unless you ran off without telling anyone for some other inexplicable reason, that is. You do have a job, you know."

Firebird grunted. "Humph. I liked it better when Vince was in charge."

"So did the rest of us."

"Yea— Wait… Hey!" Luna laughed and Firebird glared down at her. Luna's silver eyes gazed back at her filled with mirth and unveiled by the curtain of hair that, in the past, hid her face from view. "Why the hell are you here, anyway? You do have a job, you know."

Luna shrugged off the question. "Ryu can handle any minor emergencies while I'm gone. Meanwhile, Kade, and Vince are doing _your_ job." Firebird just kept glaring. "You know your eyes are on, right?"

"Easier these days to keep them on than off." Firebird grumbled. She closed her eyes. When she opened them again they had faded from blood red to coal black.

"This isn't the village. Anyone could just wander in here."

"Not without me noticing, and they're off now anyway."

Luna laughed. "You didn't notice _me_."

Firebird scowled. "Luna, nobody notices you until you stop moving. Not even Hetikae. I swear we ought to have named you Speedy." She grumbled. Luna just rolled her eyes. "You know, you never answered my question."

"Right, right." Luna said. "The reason I'm 'the hell' here, as you so eloquently put it, was because I thought that my dear fearsome leader might want to hear the intel I got from my team."

That caught Firebird's attention. "What is it?"

"Times changing and trouble brewing." Luna waved her hand frivolously over her head. "Certain relatives of yours are being even more moronic than usual."

"_Distant _relatives." Firebird snapped.

"Whatever." Luna shrugged. "Anyway, they're acting like idiots. And then there are those lunatics in the cloaks—"

"The Akatsuki?"

"Yeah them. Anyway it looks like they're based in Rain, and are going to be making a move in the near future." Luna spoke casually, but both girls knew that every word was grave. "The alliance between Sand and Fire is strong as of now but there are tensions between the other villages. Orochimaru and that Sound Village business aren't helping anything." She drew a kunai and spun it around her finger. "What do you think we should do?"

Firebird frowned, staring back up at the sky. "I'll need to talk to Vince, Kade, and the others, but I do know one thing..."

"We can't do nothing." Luna finished.

"Exactly," Firebird sighed. "We can't sit in the shadows any longer."

"Who do we approach?" Luna asked.

"No one now." Firebird shook her head. "We need more information first. I'll take the civilian route home through Fire Country and see what I can find out. You and your team need to crack open your sources and gather anything you can." Her voice rang with authority and all joking was over with. "If I'm not back in the village before you're done, go over everything with Vince, and Kade before anybody does anything else.

"Be careful and keep Kyene _the hell_ away from Lightning. I am _not_ cleaning up another mess like _that_."

Luna stepped away from Fire's Rock. She gave Firebird an elegant bow "At once, Lady Firebird," and then was simply gone; her speed carrying her away faster than even Firebird's eyes could easily follow.

Firebird stared after her for a moment before hopping down from her perch. She laid her palm on the Rock and leaned her forehead against it. She could feel the remnants of the Rock's old chakra deep within it. It resonated with hers, singing a song that crackled and burned. The heat that once lit Fire's Rock with its ever burning, now extinguished, flame filled her and left as she stepped back and let out a heavy sigh of steam.

Without pause, Firebird turned from the Rock and left the clearing at a slow and steady walk. Behind her, seven ravens settled into place now that the interlopers were gone, while one remained, circling high in the sky. As she walked, Firebird's flaming cape slowly faded into nothing. Her shirt lightened from black to pale lavender, and her shorts darkened to tan. Her hair brightened to burning red. With a strand of hair from either side, she tied the rest of her hair into a loose ponytail. The only thing that remained the same was the red headband, its edges charred and frayed, that was tied around her wrist, baring a metal plate with a dragon wrapped around and clutching a large pearl engraved onto it.

**Break**

With a canvas bag over her shoulder, a red-haired girl called Tarra emerged from the forest and walked alone along the road at a steady pace.

**I now have a problem. I have numerous story ideas that involve this set of characters and I haven't decided which one I'm going to try to write. The possibilities include:**

**Itachi as central: This one would have to start right at the end of the Chunin Exam arc and would probably change the most cannon.**

**Naruto as central: This would be one of those 'Naruto gets banished' fics, so I'm very reluctant to use it. It would either start after the Valley of the End or while Danzo is Hokage.**

**And Sasuke as central: There are numerous possibilities for this one alone including, Sasuke gets amnesia after the Valley of the End, killing Itachi, or killing Danzo, and redeemed Sasuka after the same afore mentioned events.**

**I really want to write using these characters because they are my only Naruto specific characters (save one). All my other ideas involve dumping characters from my original stories into the mix. And I love these characters and would really like to write their story, so please review and tell me what you think. I promise there won't be any more ridiculously long author's notes if you help me.**

**I'm begging here,**

**-Ebony**

**P.S. There are three omens in this chapter. Anyone who spots them gets digital cookie dough! (If you find one of them, the others are ridiculously easy to spot.)**


End file.
